For area, a blip in employment growth

Updated 10:45 pm, Friday, August 17, 2012

The big job gains in construction and retail from June evaporated last month, the Texas Workforce Commission reported Friday, and typical seasonal job losses also trimmed the midsummer employment rolls.

One local economist chalked up July's loss of 16,100 local jobs as "statistical noise" and instead pointed to the year-over-year data that paint a much more stable, and upbeat, portrait.

Houston-area employers added 83,700 jobs from July 2011 to July 2012, a 3.2 percent year-over-year gain.

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Houston has been growing at that pace for about the past year, Smith said, pointing to the latest report that showed solid job creation in oil and gas exploration and production along with manufacturing. The construction industry, despite the July slowdown, is showing job gains over last year.

While a 3.2 percent year-over-year gain doesn't set any local records, in the context of the struggling national economy this year should go down as one of Houston's best, Smith said.

He recalls the heady years of 1997 and 1998 when the U.S. economy was booming and the energy industry was coming back strongly for the first time since the mid-1980s energy bust.

Houston created 4.5 percent more jobs in 1997 and another 5.2 percent in 1998, he recalled, adding: "That's a boom."

That growth spurt - which was repeated in 2006 and 2007, when prices for oil and real estate were both high - showed how well Houston can do when all cylinders are firing. But that typically happens only when the energy economy and the national economy are running strong, Smith said.

"When everything is going right for us, we get the booms of 4 percent and above," he said. This year, however, with the national economy relatively weak, the area's 3.2 percent growth looks good.

Energy edge

If Houston didn't have its energy edge, local job growth would probably be running closer to 2 percent, Smith said.

"It's almost a little bit boring," said Patrick Jankowski, vice president of research for the Greater Houston Partnership. The Houston area represents 23.7 percent of the Texas population, but it accounts for 36.9 percent of the state's job growth.

It might even be stronger if a presidential election wasn't looming. Gary Akin, owner/manager of Management Recruiters of Champions, which is part of the MRINetwork, said companies seem more likely to hold off hiring as they await the outcome.

Several clients are worried about what kind of costs they're facing and what kind of growth to expect, said Akin, who places workers in permanent manufacturing jobs.

A perfect candidate?

At the moment, Akin said, his client companies are focused more on replacing workers who leave rather than adding staff.

Clients are also searching for the perfect candidate because they've heard unemployment rates are high, he said. But that's not always so easy to do because many experienced workers already have jobs.

The Workforce Commission also reported that the Houston-area un-employment rate was 7.5 percent in July, the same as in June. The local jobless rate is not seasonally adjusted for typical events such as school schedules and holidays that create hiring surges and dips.

The statewide rate, however, is adjusted for those seasonal changes, and the jobless rate in Texas rose to 7.2 percent in July from 7 percent in June.